Former Corrections Officer Aaron Kalka Sex Crime Charges Dropped

A sex crime charge against a former Shawnee County corrections officer was dismissed Wednesday by the district attorney.

Aaron Kalka, 41, of Auburn, in March 2014 was charged with one count of aggravated criminal sodomy of a victim younger than 14 by an offender older than 18. Conviction of the offense carries a life sentence with parole eligibility after 25 years.

Earlier this month, Shawnee County District Court Judge Cheryl Kingfisher ruled that video and audio recorded statements made to law enforcement officers by Kalka won’t be allowed in court.

Kingfisher also ruled that all polygraph-related evidence collected by a Shawnee County Sheriff’s detective would be excluded.

In a notice of dismissal without prejudice, Todd Hiatt, assistant district attorney, wrote “due to the suppression of the defendant’s admissions and/or confession as set forth in the court’s March 9, 2015, Memorandum Decision and Order, the State of Kansas is unable to continue prosecuting this matter at this time.”

The state reserves its right to “resurrect the action within the time limitations for commencement of prosecution.”

Kalka’s defense attorney, Chris Joseph, said dismissal was the right decision.

“The alleged victim’s statements included the explanation that ‘it was a dream,’ Jospeh said. “The state had no case without Aaron’s statements, which were involuntary, unreliable, and properly suppressed.”

Kalka began working with the Shawnee County Corrections Department in August 2013. His last day of employment was Oct. 23, 2014.

Timothy Phelps, deputy director of the jail, said while he can’t speak about any specific employee, the jail’s standard that it has to meet with regard to disciplinary action against an employee isn’t the same as the judicial system.

“The jail doesn’t have to meet the higher burden of proof a prosecutor does,” Phelps said.

During an Oct. 7 hearing, Shawnee County sheriff’s Detective Erin Thompson testified Kalka told a detective he placed his penis in the mouth of his 5-year-old stepdaughter as a means to discipline her when she acted out.

The detective said Kalka remembered being upset because the child was acting out, and he did the act out of anger as punishment, not out of sexual pleasure.

Thompson said that information was relayed to her from another detective who had done a polygraph test on Kalka. Kalka failed the polygraph test.

Kalka’s defense attorney, Chris Joseph, filed two motions seeking to suppress Kalka’s statements to law enforcement officers and to exclude all polygraph-related evidence collected by a Shawnee County Sheriff’s detective.

That included video and audio recordings made during his polygraph test on March 26, 2014, and a follow-up interview on March 27, 2014.